ASEAN looks to broader Asian bloc to mitigate "US crisis"

The Association of South East Asian Nations may agree on steps to build a trade bloc with Asian countries which could include China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India by as early as 2014. “We will create one of the world’s biggest economic spaces to do business,” ASEAN Deputy Secretary General Pushpanathan Sundram said in an interview. “It will be just like operating in one single region; a free flow of trade, investments.”

“We want to look at further enhancing our existing trade agreements with other Asian countries so that we can mitigate some of the downside from the US crisis,” he said.